Lookin po nub... shop build

I have looked through the archives/past threads for a while now on shop builds. Not just turning a basement/garage/shop into a studio, but for a "from the ground up" type of info.

I'm buying a home soon and have a perfect spot for a shed to build a studio in the backyard. I want to do it right as I'll probably be working from this studio for a while. I have set up many studios over the years, so I'm not worried on the "guts" of it all. I'm curious as to what people have done (completely fabricate their own shed, buy a kit, hire a contractor, etc.) and how it has fared for them. Also, if you laid concrete, or did concrete planks, wood or whatever for the foundation.

I live in Oregon, so I need to make sure the shed isn't going to leak.

Also, curious to know what cost was involved with your shop, if you're comfortable sharing that info. I don't know for sure what I need to budget but I was hoping somewhere in the $2k-$3k range would be doable.

Thanks in advance and if anyone has any referrals to someone who does this type of contract work in Portland-ish area I'd appreciate it. I may end up going that route and I'm big on referring people myself.

-----Z

My dad and I built my first shop from the ground up. I'll try and find pictures of it later. It had a garage door to my right, a window to my left, and a regular door and a window behind me. Worked great. Cost just under $2k. Probably the 5th shed my dad and I have built, first one for blowing glass.

I don't remember where I saw it but someone turned an old shipping container into a pretty cool little studio. They added a few windows and a sliding glass door and it turned out looking very nice. I have no idea what the cost are in something like that but another idea to toss around never hurts.

Whatever you decide to do, post pictures!

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Originally Posted by TlkQ

My dad and I built my first shop from the ground up. I'll try and find pictures of it later. It had a garage door to my right, a window to my left, and a regular door and a window behind me. Worked great. Cost just under $2k. Probably the 5th shed my dad and I have built, first one for blowing glass.

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That sounds sick, I love to see some pics. I'm thinking I just need a front door and two windows (intake and outtake). Did you lay concrete when you built yours, or what was the foundation of then?

I don't have a ton of experience building things except for what I made for my shop (a bench and kiln stand), so I'd probably have to recruit a more experienced buddy to help or hire it out. Under $2k would be nice too. Putting new flooring in a house is $$$$$$$.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j4y

I don't remember where I saw it but someone turned an old shipping container into a pretty cool little studio. They added a few windows and a sliding glass door and it turned out looking very nice. I have no idea what the cost are in something like that but another idea to toss around never hurts.

Whatever you decide to do, post pictures!

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I've heard of people doing that, it's a slick idea but I think those containers are fairly costly and this is going into the backyard of our new house. Don't know if the wifey would give me thumbs up on a shipping container, even if I pimped it out hahahaha.

Pics will be added as it comes along....

You may have seen it already, but here's a pretty recent build that comes to mind: http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39875

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Originally Posted by Zafa

I don't have a ton of experience building things except for what I made for my shop (a bench and kiln stand), so I'd probably have to recruit a more experienced buddy to help or hire it out. Under $2k would be nice too. Putting new flooring in a house is $$$$$$$.

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If you have to hire out a shop build, it's probably not going to come in under $2K. I would imagine when TLKQ mentions that price, he's talking about material cost, since he and his dads labor doesn't cost him anything (in cash).

Can you set up a small shop in your garage for a year or so? The reason I mention that is, it will give you time to get the feel of the house. I know that sounds kind of dumb, but it helps to live in a place for a while to get the best idea of how you should set it up. When my wife and I first moved into our place, there were a few things that we were like "yeah, we should totally do this", and then thankfully that idea got put off for a while. Oftentimes, when we re-visited the idea, we realized that it just wouldn't work for the flow of our place, or it had another hidden issue that we wouldn't have seen at the time.

Also it gives you a year to pump out work and save up scratch to really make your shop nice instead of "fuck, I can't melt until I get this done, and I only have so much money to cover it, so I have to cut corners or eliminate niceties or things I really wanted."

This last bit isn't really glassblower advice, but sort of ties in, and it sounds like you're buying your first house and have stuff you want to do to it. Sit down with your wife once you're in the place, and make a 5 year and 10 year plan of what you want to do with the place. I'm not at all one of those people that suggests that for life, but in owning a house, it's not a bad idea. It allows you to both get an idea of what you want, and also helps you prioritize things and figure out what order things need to be done in (like say you want to finish the basement, but you want to add more circuits down there. You would probably want to do the latter before the former.)

Also, if possible, befriend someone who is good with tools and that you work well with. Pay attention to how they work so you learn things while you work. Be ready and willing to help them out when they need help with their projects. Treat them very well.

Most importantly, congratulations on your new place!

If you're building your own, think about radiant heat for the floor. I'm sure it gets cold up there in OR and that'll help out a ton.

We used those setter stones [I don't know the proper term..] to sit a wood floor on. They are like kind of pointy cinder blocks but with grooves in the top for 2x to sit in. Getting someone to build it for you is going to be hella expensive. It's really not all that difficult. You just need to be super precise. Look up framing how-to's and you'll be good to go.

-Put setter stones down, level them.
-Build floor on setter stones. 16" centers
-Frame out walls. 16" centers
-Stand up framed out walls. Cover in ply
-Build/buy roof joyces.
-Set joyces into place
-Cover roof with ply, shingle
-Add siding to walls
-Add doors and windows
-Wiring

So I live here in AZ now. Last shop was in TX in rented house/1 car garage. We built it on our property here from the ground up, literally. I am on the side of a rocky slope, so the spot for the shop had to be leveled with a bulldozer, then slab poured professionally. I figured I wanted a 50 year shop. Something I could grow into for, well, ever.

First, It costs way more than I thought. And took way longer. I am working in a rented space now, blowing my ass off to pay for my studio build. $3000 for slab including leveling and setup. Oh, btw, slab is 16' x 36'. $1500 in lumber, windows, roll up door, nails, etc. $1200 for Galvalume metal roof. $600 for evaporative cooler (necessary here). Except the slab, I built it all myself (w/ a lil help from my friends). Going on a 10 months now. Just put cooler in yesterday. Moving in soon. I will finish the inside (wiring, paneling, etc) while I am working in it.

It is my dream shop, though. Only 30' from my bed! 4 stations, product storage, materials storage, product boxing station, saftey break area, sandblasting station, liquid oxy, even a work bench and tool storage for everything else I could need.

Icarus had some of the best advice. Wait, be patient, and plan. I researched shops for a long time to figure out what I wanted. I drew up a building plan, and had my dad (former architect) go over them for any issues. Made materials lists and price shopped. I built mine like a "build to suit" industrial shop would be, i.e. water, electric outside the wall so that I could add/change easily. If all of your outlets are in the wall, and you wanted to move a cabinet or something, it would be impossible to move the outlet. Also, mine is 10' tall inside to accomodate exhaust and stuff. That allowed me to make part of the shop into loft style storage, saving floorspace.

And be flexible. I had to add an interior "shear" wall after I started framing, to add strength. It basically turned the building into two spaces, but it worked out great. Happy accident. I also put in 3 skylights. I dont need to turn on the lights until night, the natural light is awesome.

Hope this might help. I had a million more small issues to overcome as well, so if you have questions, just ask.

WI-FI can't pass through metal walls, keep that in mind if you go with the shipping container or metal shed.
E

Icarus--- thanks for the advice. If I have to I could work out of my garage, but ventilation would have to be total makeshift and would prefer to "hit the ground running" once we move in. We'll see how it all comes together. I totally agree with the 5/10 year plan for the house. The wifey and I have spoken in those terms kind of alot already, and we are still yet to close (july 11). My wife is a big planner, if she doesn't have some type of plan she doesn't really operate too well. I do have a buddy who has been in construction for, I think forever actually. I haven't spoken to him yet about it but intend on asking his advice, and for his help too.

Spending some time in the home is definitely necessary for some decisions to be made, but as far as my shop is concerned there is a specific area in the yard that is almost serendipitous for a shop. I have been thinking about this for months now, and have a pretty good idea of what I want/how it should look, I just need to figure out the best way to get there. There is a ton of good people/good knowledge on here so I went fishing for both.

TLKQ- thanks for that info, I'm confident I could build it out from scratch, just need my buddy to help. I have searched online for how-to's and have found a number of them.

Glass Fish- that sounds sick, much more diesel than I was envisioning. I don't think I'll be going that far with mine. I just need a comfortably sized and sturdy built place to blast off to planet boro.

Emmett- good lookin out on that one, I do rock the wifi only apps on my ipod quite a bit. I've been digging Songza lately. It's like Pandora, but way sicker. I gotta have my tunes!!!!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/100_0280.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/100_0281.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/100_0282.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/100_0283.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/100_0285.jpg

Slick, what are the dimensions?

8x12 I believe.

In my area you can go like 14x16 with out a permit, making the electric permanent requires a permit to do up to code, find out what you can do in your area. Make sure you do things up to code. Check for things like a Home owners association and zoning codes can make working from your property a pain in the ass.
E

Thanks TLKQ, I was thinking of going with like a 10 x 12 or so, maybe bigger.

Emmett- I already started looking into the permit situation. Thankfully there is no HOA in the neighborhood we are moving to. On the govt site I looked at for the city we are moving to it said something like anything 528 sq ft or less and I won't need a permit. I'm sure I'll probably need a permit for the electric, and to make sure it's safe to dig the trench for the wiring .


I was looking at some Tuff Sheds and it seems like a pretty good route to go. The benefit is that they come out and put it up for you, but it is a bit more expensive. Although I would have to "fire proof" it a bit. Like putting something on the floor (metal/hardiebacker/etc.) and in a few spots around my bench.

"Once I build it, the glass will melt."
---Shop of Dreams

It's been a minute as I've been moving and working on the house and shop alot. Trying to get things going here and fully dialed early to mid this next week. I'm itchin to melt some glass. It's been like almost 2 weeks. For me that's a long ass time.

Progress is rocking strong so far though. I'll post pics once I upload them. Think I'll do it once its done, like a series from beginning to end.

Ended up hiring a local company to build the shed (did a 10 x 16ft) and they killed it. "Better Built Barns" is the company and they do sheds in OR, WA, and ID. HIGHLY recommend. Electric is being run on Monday, digging the ditch myself which is a biatch to do. Need a 2ft depth and it's like 12ft long or so. Didn't seem like much till I started... sweatquity for the biz I guess.

One thing I'm not totally sure on is how I'm going to do the hardline for my oxy. Gonna have it like 50 feet away by the garage in a separate shed. Mostly going to run it at the base of the house then follow the ditch where my electric is. Problem I'm having is that I don't know what would be a good and safe distance to separate the two lines.

Anyone have any thoughts on it?

you can rent a ditch witch for under 50 bucks a day. it will knock that trench out before lunch is ready. ;)